Escape Dynamics, Inc. was a Colorado-based

technology company A technology company (or tech company) is an electronics-based technological company, including, for example, business relating to digital electronics, software, and internet-related services, such as e-commerce services. Details According to '' ...

that operated 2010–2015 focused on bringing to market single-stage-to-orbit reusable electromagnetically powered

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes te ...

s. Although the company demonstrated operation of a prototype thruster with an end-to-end (

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News ...

to thruster) sequence of operation of an externally powered propulsion system in 2015, the company ceased operations at the end of 2015 as a result of insufficient funding to complete the requisite R&D process to complete

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

History

The company was founded by Richard F. Schaden and a team of

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

scientists including Dr. Dmitriy Tseliakhovich and Shaun Maguire. Laetitia Garriott de Cayeux joined the founding team as the President and COO in 2014. Members of the Board of Advisors included Dr.

Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis (; born May 20, 1961) is a Greek-American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur best known for being founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University and coauthor of ' ...

of the X Prize Foundation, Mr. Gonzalo Martinez of

Autodesk Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartere ...

, Professor

Harry Atwater Harry Albert Atwater, Jr. is an American physicist and materials scientist and is the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at the California Institute of Technology. Currently he is the Howard Hughes Pro ...

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, Mr. Jonathan Knowles of

, Mr. Ingvar Petursson of

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing card ...

, Joseph Meyerowitz (co-founder of Escape Dynamics), and Mr. Shaun Maguire (co-founder of Escape Dynamics) of

and Qadium Inc. The company ceased operations at the end of 2015, commenting in a statement on their website that, "while microwave propulsion is feasible and is capable of efficiency and performance surpassing chemical rockets, the cost of completing the R&D all the way through operations makes the concept economically unattractive for our team at this time."

Technology development

The key technology areas Escape Dynamics focused on were: i) externally powered aerospace vehicles; ii) efficient, reliable and safe wireless

energy transfer In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat ...

; and iii) highly efficient high power

microwave Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from about one meter to one millimeter corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz respectively. Different sources define different frequency ra ...

sources. Systems the company developed included high power microwave sources ( gyrotrons) used to generate microwave energy required to power aerospace vehicles, high-speed steerable phased array antennas for

millimeter-wave Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It lies between the super high frequency band and the ...

long distance wireless energy transfer, and

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge. It is the second-strongest of the four fundamental interactions, after the strong force, and it is the dominant force in the interactions o ...

ally powered propulsion systems. In the summer 2015, the company demonstrated operation of a prototype thruster with

specific impulse Specific impulse (usually abbreviated ) is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine (a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel) creates thrust. For engines whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse is ...

above 500 seconds using

helium Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. ...

as a propellant. The demonstration showed an end-to-end sequence of operation of an externally powered propulsion system. Energy was drawn from the grid, converted into microwaves using EDI's gyrotron, guided through a system of beam shaping mirrors, and beamed from an antenna to a thruster. Conversion of the microwave energy into thrust was performed using a thermal thruster with a highly efficient microwave-absorbing heat exchanger.

Industry accolades and awards

In 2013, the company's work and revolutionary approach to innovation in the aerospace industry was recognized by Autodesk Innovation Award. In 2014 Escape Dynamics was invited to present its vision at the Google Solve for X summit. In the summer 2015, after announcement of the 500 second I_sp milestones, the company was featured in the cover story of

Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviatio ...

and featured in Scientific American which listed its beamed-energy propulsion concept as one of ten “2015 World Changing Ideas”. Fast Company Magazine also listed Escape Dynamics in its “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies 2016” edition as #3 of the World's Most Innovative Companies in the space sector after SpaceX and Blue Origin.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20160318215059/http://escapedynamics.com/ (Archived) Aerospace companies of the United States Companies based in Broomfield, Colorado Single-stage-to-orbit